2009 British Formula 3

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04 July 2009

Renger van der Zande pulled off a double-Dutch triumph at Snetterton this afternoon in qualifying for the Cooper Tires British F3 International Series. Having already snatched pole position for round nine, the Hitech Racing driver repeated the feat in second qualifying to claim top spot for round 10 also.

Van der Zande's Mercedes-powered Dallara put in a best lap of 1m 02.098s, slightly slower than its morning-session pace but enough to secure a second pole of the day and the Hitech team's fourth pole on the trot. Renger's Austrian team-mate, Walter Grubmuller, will share the front row with him. "Still on top, it's great and I am very happy," said van der Zande. "Let's hope it stays that way in the races..."

Riki Christodoulou went third fastest for the Fortec team, just ahead of fellow Briton Max Chilton.

The leading National Class qualifier was Fortec's Daniel McKenzie.
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Grubmüller wins first race at Doninton Park

19 July 2009

Austrian ace Walter Grubmüller closed the gap between himself and Cooper Tires British F3 points leader Daniel Ricciardo at Donington Park this morning, claiming a dominant victory in the 11th round of the championship ahead of his Hitech Racing team-mate Renger van der Zande. Ricciardo recovered from early-race dramas to take third place at the chequered flag, but the Australian sees his title points advantage cut from 23 points to 16.

Grubmüller's Mercedes-powered Dallara made the decisive move of the race away from the startline, Walter making a better getaway than van der Zande to slot ahead of his team-mate into the first right-hander, Redgate Corner.

The only real threat to Grubmüller's second victory of the season came on the 10th lap, when the Safety Car was called into play while the stricken car of National Class runner Gabriel Dias was retrieved from a dangerous position. But Grubmüller and van der Zande handled the restart perfectly and kept well clear of their closest pursuer, Colombian Carlos Huertas who, after claiming his best grid slot, was enjoying a convincing run in the Raikkonen Robertson Dallara.

Ricciardo was meanwhile enduring a nightmare, slipping from third on the grid to seventh by the third lap. The fight back to third was impressive, Daniel's Carlin Motorsport car dispatching Riki Christodoulou through the Craner Curves on lap seven, Max Chilton six laps later, then Adriano Buzaid within a further two laps and, finally, Huertas for third on the inside at McLeans nine laps from the end. That was to be as far as Daniel would get, however.

Said Ricciardo: "My start wasn't perfect, too much wheelspin, and I fell back a couple of positions. Then I tried to make them up a bit too quickly and that ended up costing me a couple more positions. The safety car helped a bit, and the car was really good and I managed to get back to third. I had the pace of the Hitech cars but Renger was doing a good job holding me off. Third was all I could do in the end."

Grubmüller crossed the line six-tenths clear of van der Zande, and said: "After the start it was a pretty uneventful race for me, but still difficult because it was extremely slippery. I was struggling with that a bit but managed to get it home safe. I am still in contention for the championship; we're only half way through the season and anything can happen. We are still in the fight."

Huertas held on for fourth, equalling his best result, ahead of Buzaid, Chilton, Christodoulou and Daisuke Nakajima, with Jay Bridger and Wayne Boyd completing the top 10.

In the National Class Dias threw away a massive grid advantage on the opening lap, Fortec's Daniel McKenzie gratefully accepting the class lead. With Dias later hobbled by mechanical problems, McKenzie enjoyed a relatively easy run to his seventh class win of the season.

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Boyd takes maiden win in rain at Donington Park

Donington Race two:

19 July 2009

Ulsterman Wayne Boyd claimed his maiden Cooper Tires British F3 race win at a rain-hit Donington Park this afternoon, the 18-year-old staging a magnificent drive in treacherous conditions to lead home his T-Sport team-mate Adriano Buzaid.

Boyd's drive was all the more remarkable in that he started from 10th on the grid, and fell as low as 12th in the early stages before scything his way through to a popular victory at the wheel of his Volkswagen-powered Dallara.

Championship leader Daniel Ricciardo led the way from the pole in the early, dry laps, pursued by Buzaid and the Hitech cars of Renger van der Zande and Walter Grubmuller. But at the completion of a two-lap safety car period, caused by the need to rescue a stranded car from the track, Ricciardo was hijacked by van der Zande and Buzaid through McLeans corner, and the Australian spun back to seventh, just ahead of Boyd, who had recovered well from a grassy moment on the opening lap and who was revelling in the increasingly damp conditions.

Boyd made short work of Ricciardo and within a further two laps had dispensed with the cars of Carlos Huertas and Max Chilton to move into fourth. Both Grubmuller and Buzaid fell victim to the charging Ulsterman on the 15th lap, the former at Redgate and the latter at Coppice, and then, after five laps shadowing van der Zande, Wayne put in the overtaking move of the season at Redgate, around the outside of the Dutch driver, to claim the lead.

With van der Zande fading towards the end (and later slapped with a 25-secnd penalty for his incident with Ricciardo), Buzaid moved into second for a T-Sport 1-2.

"It's absolutely amazing," said Wayne of his victory. "After being so dominant in Formula Ford last year, jumping up to F3 was a big step. People doubted I could do it. But now to get my first win in the hardest conditions we've seen all year... it's absolutely brilliant. I got pushed on to the grass at the start, and that fired me up a bit. Big thanks to T-Sport, the car was absolutely brilliant."

Grubmuller claimed third, ahead of Huertas and Ricciardo, to narrow Daniel's championship lead further still. The top 10 was completed by Henry Arundel, Chilton, Jay Bridger, Daisuke Nakajima and Ricki Christodoulou, with Daniel McKenzie emerging on top in a topsy-turvy National Class battle.

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Race winner over the moon in Belgium

24 July 2009

Daniel Ricciardo was delighted with victory at Spa-Francorchamps on Friday. Pole position on Thursday was already half of the job done for the Australian, who increases his championship lead further after a first corner collision removed title rival Walter Grubmüller from the action.

Buzaid penalised after first Spa race
Adriano Buzaid has received a penalty following the first race in Belgium on Friday. Having finished in sixth place for the T-Sport team, the Brazilian was dropped down following an incident which occurred before the start of the race.

Sixth place at Spa quickly became a lowly nineteenth for Buzaid, who has already clinched pole position ahead of Round 14 on Saturday.

The penalty has been imposed for overshooting his eleventh place grid slot before the start of Round 13, meaning his five-place climb during the race has now counted for nothing - he will no doubt be fully aware of his exact parking place on Saturday.

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Buzaid scores maiden victory at Spa

25 July 2009

Brazilian Adriano Buzaid this afternoon became the eighth different race winner of the 2009 Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series, the Brazilian 21-year-old sweeping to his maiden F3 win at a rain-soaked Spa in round 14 of the championship. It was the second win in a week for the Volkswagen-powered T-Sport team, whose Wayne Boyd was a winner at Donington.

The biggest winner of the weekend however was Red Bull racer Daniel Ricciardo, who today added a second-place finish to his Spa race victory of yesterday to extend his championship lead to 37 points - the largest advantage that the Australian has enjoyed all season.

Buzaid's win was a real battle against the elements. Rain started to fall on the warm-up lap and pole-sitter Adriano and his rivals had to make a difficult pre-start tyre choice. All but Invitation Class runner Jake Rosenzweig opted to start on slicks, and some rued their decision when the heavens opened again on lap five.

Buzaid and Ricciardo tip-toed their way around the opening laps, Adriano swiftly repulsing an early attack from the Australian and building a one-second advantage within a couple of laps. Buzaid pulled even further ahead as the rain fell and the track became even more treacherous, Ricciardo mindful of his championship lead. "I had a sniff of victory today," said Carlin driver Ricciardo. "I took the lead for a while but Adriano outbraked me, which was a good move. Then the rain came and I had a few moments and I thought that if I can end the race second then that's good result for the championship."

Buzaid crossed the line 5.9s ahead and was predictably overjoyed: "This win is very special for me, amazing. To take my first F3 win at such a nice track as Spa, and in such conditions, is very special. I would like to dedicate this win in memory of Henry Surtees, who was a very good friend of mine." Adriano additionally collected the Sunoco Driver of the Weekend award.

Renger van der Zande and Riki Christodoulou diced for third for much of the race, so closely in fact that both slithered off the track at the Bus Stop chicane on lap seven and then clashed again at the next corner, La Source, Christodoulou's car suffering enough damage to end its race. That left van der Zande sitting pretty for third - until the penultimate lap, that is, when he lost time and was passed for the final podium slot by his Hitech team-mate and championship title aspirant Walter Grubmuller.

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Ricciardo takes Silverstone pole position

15 August 2009
Championship leader Daniel Ricciardo has placed himself in the best position to defend his lead by qualifying on pole position on Saturday ahead of Silverstone's first race. The Australian topped the timesheets in the half-hour qualifying session and will line up alongside Britain's Max Chilton on Sunday.

Japan's Daisuke Nakajima has claimed his first BF3 pole position for Silverstone's second race on Sunday. The Räikkönen Robertson driver is ahead of Britain's Max Chilton, who again clinches second spot, by an almost impossible margin of just one thousandth of a second.

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Ricciardo wins Silverstone Race 1

16 August 2009
Championship leader Daniel Ricciardo has extended his lead by winning the first race of the day at Silverstone. The Australian Carlin driver was never headed after starting on pole position and crossed the finish line ahead of Walter Grubmüller.

The 20-year-old Australian and his Red Bull-backed Carlin Motorsport Dallara-Volkswagen made an impeccable start to build a one-second lead over his closest pursuer, Hitech's Renger van der Zande, on the opening lap. That was as close as anyone would come to Daniel for the remainder of the race.

The demandingly technical nature of the Silverstone International circuit militated against much overtaking. Most of the action occurred away from the start line, Ricciardo's team-mate Max Chilton fluffing his getaway and slipping from second on the grid to fourth behind van der Zande and Walter Grubmüller.

"It was pretty straightforward," said Ricciardo. "I got the start I needed to get. I saw that Max didn't get away well and let the Hitech boys through, but that was out of my control so I had just to focus on my race, setting the fastest lap and taking the win. After a few laps I saw the cars in my mirrors getting a bit smaller, and that's what I wanted to see."

After Lap 1, the only passing manoeuvre in the top 10 came on the 17th of the 23 laps, when van der Zande, who had looked a secure second, lost time and was overtaken by his Hitech team-mate Grubmüller.

Chilton recovered from his slow getaway to hang on to fourth all the way to the line, ahead of his Carlin team-mate Henry Arundel, and the Dallaras of Carlos Huertas, Wayne Boyd, Riki Christodoulou, Daisuke Nakajima and Adriano Buzaid.

T-Sport's Gabriel Dias led all the way in the National Class, finishing 11th overall to record his fifth class win of the season. The man who has led the class points standings all season, Fortec's Daniel McKenzie, was a solid second despite complaining of handling problems.

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Van der Zande wins race two at Silverstone

16 August 2009
Renger Van der Zande rose from third on the grid to overhaul Max Chilton and first-time pole-sitter Daisuke Nakajima to claim his third British F3 race win on Sunday. The Dutchman's victory from Race 2 of the weekend saw the Hitech driver on the top of the podium again at the track on which he claimed his first race win back in May.
Nakajima made a copybook start from his maiden British F3 pole in his Raikkonen Robertson Racing machine, pursued by Carlin's Max Chilton and Hitech team-mates van der Zande and Walter Grubmüller, with Ricciardo slotting into fifth on the opening lap.

Lap 8 was decisive to the outcome of the race, van der Zande popping past Chilton for second and Ricciardo catching out Grubmüller to relieve his chief title rival of fourth place. Next lap van der Zande barged past Nakajima around the outside at Abbey to lift the lead and run away with the race.

"The start was not that great for me," said Renger. "But I managed to get close while Max and Daisuke were fighting, then I passed Max around the outside at Luffield, and then a lap later I managed to go around the outside of Nakajima also. There was a bit of wheel-banging on the straight after. At the end I pushed to increase by lead to 11 seconds, and I'm very happy with that."

Chilton fancied his chances of following van der Zande's example in passing Nakajima, and made a move at Becketts on the 11th lap; alas their cars touched and Max not only failed to relieve him of second but also spun back to ninth.

That handed third to Ricciardo. "My start wasn't that good," said Daniel, "and Walter managed to jump me and I fell back to fifth. After a few laps I managed to get by Walter when he made a mistake, and then within a lap or two I was on the back of the leading guys, who were fighting quite aggressively. It was fun to watch them and I really wanted to be a part of the battle but always at the back of my mind was the championship..."

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Portugal 13 September

Ricciardo crowned Champion in Portugal
Jules Bianchi completed a fantastic weekend by picking up yet another race win for the ART Grand Prix team in Portugal although Australia's Daniel Ricciardo is man of the weekend; the Carlin driver struggled with a damaged front wing but could not be stopped from claiming the British Formula 3 Championship title of 2009.

Chilton wins season finale
Max Chilton broke his British Formula 3 duck by registering his first race win at Brands Hatch in the final round of the 2009 championship. The 18-year-old Briton, brother of British Touring Car's Tom, led home Fortec's Riki Christodoulou with Double R's Marcus Ericsson third.